UT Vols: A hire like Jeremy Pruitt or Kevin Steele wouldn't be uncommon in SEC football

Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt as practice is held on fan day at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Sunday August 7, 2016.

Perhaps it was a stroke of his own ego, or perhaps he just knew what he was facing. Whatever the case, Phillip Fulmer subtly prepared Tennessee fans for the possibility that the Vols’ next football coach would come from the coordinator ranks.

“I’ve been charged to find the right coach for these circumstances: head coach, assistant coach and coordinators,” Fulmer said Friday, when he was named UT’s athletic director in the wake of John Currie’s ouster.

Who’s in play?

With Fulmer directing the search this week, most of the smoke signals have hovered around three candidates, all from the coordinator ranks: Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt, Georgia defensive coordinator Mel Tucker and Auburn defensive coordinator Kevin Steele.

Pruitt and Tucker have never been head coaches, unless you count Tucker’s stint as interim coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2011.

Steele, who played linebacker at Tennessee in the late 1970s before getting his first assistant coaching job under Johnny Majors, had one stint as a head coach. It’s more a blemish than a positive. Steele was 9-36 at Baylor from 1999-2002. Granted, Baylor was in the midst of a stretch of 14 straight losing seasons.

A couple other coordinators may remain in play.

Bruce Feldman of FOX Sports and SI.com reported Wednesday that Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables is believed to have received consideration. And Fulmer chatted via phone on Tuesday with Southern Cal offensive coordinator Tee Martin, ESPN.com’s Chris Low reported. Martin was Fulmer’s quarterback on the 1998 Tennessee team that won a national title.

Only five SEC coaches were sitting head coaches elsewhere before getting hired for their current role: Alabama’s Nick Saban (Miami Dolphins), Arkansas’ Morris (SMU), Auburn’s Gus Malzahn (Arkansas State), Florida’s Dan Mullen (Mississippi State) and Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher (Florida State). Of those five, only three — Saban, Mullen and Fisher — were plucked from other Power 5 schools or the NFL.

The SEC’s other eight coaches were either coordinators or position coaches before ascending to their current role.

Of that group of eight, two — LSU’s Ed Orgeron and South Carolina’s Will Muschamp – had FBS head coaching experience, but not immediately prior to their current role. Orgeron and Mississippi coach Matt Luke, who had been Hugh Freeze’s co-offensive coordinator, auditioned as interim coaches before getting promoted.

Tennessee’s last three hires came from the head coaching ranks. The Vols picked up Lane Kiffin off the scrap heap after the Oakland Raiders fired him. Then came Derek Dooley from Louisiana Tech, who was replaced by Butch Jones of Cincinnati.

Not since Fulmer have the Vols made a hire from the coordinator ranks. He’d served on Johnny Majors’ staff for 13 seasons, ascending to offensive coordinator, before replacing Majors during the 1992 season.

“More times than not, you like experience to come in, somebody that has been a head coach,” Fulmer said.

That’s the preferred option, sure, but Tennessee doesn’t appear to be in position to go that route.

A timeline of Tennessee’s coaching search

The Tennessee coaching search has gone through a tumultuous week.

Phil Fulmer named Vols athletics director

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John Currie out as Tennessee athletic director

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